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'A gentleman came in, picked up my leather laptop bag and threw it on to my lap,' he told the court.

'He said he had a ticket and every right to sit there. He threatened me with words along the lines of: "You'd better shut up before I shut you up".

'I laughed and turned away, which may have inflamed the situation and provoked him into hitting me over the head.

Fowler was arrested at East Croydon railway station after the attack on a fellow passenger

'There was a blow and I was knocked forward and must have hit the tray in front of me to cause the cut on my face. He was very, very drunk, his words were slurry and he was very, very rude and arrogant.'

Mr Farthing added: 'I asked him why he was being so rude and we had an argument about why he was being so rude.

'I agreed he had every right to sit in the seat, but if he had asked politely if I could move the bag, I would have.'

Fowler had been drinking with colleagues since finishing a training day at 5.30pm. The defendant, who insisted he had drunk no more than four or five complimentary pints of beer after the seminar, told the court: 'I felt it was anti-social behaviour.

'He had his bag on the seat and food on the flip-down tray in front of that seat. When I put the bag in his lap it was not with undue force.

'I was irritated, but not annoyed. He laughed at me in a way to demean me. He was being very sarcastic.'

Fowler, who used to work for Barclays bank, claimed he was attempting to defend himself from Mr Farthing when his watch caught the victim's eye.

He insisted that Mr Farthing kicked him and presented a photograph of an ankle injury to the court.

He also claimed he had a vast amount of experience in dealing with high-pressure situations, gained during 20 years in management.

He was arrested at East Croydon station and questioned the day after the attack.

'To my disappointment, I was treated like a common criminal and spent a sleepless night in a cell. I have never been in trouble before,' Fowler said.

'The whole thing is an embarrassment. This was more like school playground behaviour than how a middle-aged, middle-class bloke like me should behave.'

District Judge Justin Barron told Fowler, who employs 50 staff: 'Your behaviour has been described as loutish, drunken and boorish.

'Your demeanour in the witness stand has come over as aggressive and sarcastic and it is far more likely you received that injury through your own drunken behaviour.

'The complainant received a two and a half centimetre laceration below the left eye and is permanently scarred.'